Journal of Physical Chemistry A, Vol.105, No.15, 3701-3708, 2001
Photoelectrons in Rb/THF solution: Spectral dependence of photodetachment cross-section
Photoconductivity method, combined with laser pulse excitation, was employed to obtain the spectral dependence of electron photodetachment in rubidium-tetrahydrofuran (Rb/THF) solution at room temperature. Wavelength dependence of photodetachment cross section, sigma (pd), qualitatively retraces that of the optical absorption cross section, a,. Moreover, a wavelength dependence of the quantum yield, kappa = sigma (pd)/sigma (a),was also found, where kappa approximate to 0.03 is held constant for the wavelengths region lambda greater than or equal to 680 nm (hv less than or equal to 1.8 eV). Also, in the short wavelengths region, lambda less than or equal to 510 nm (hv greater than or equal to 2.4 eV), K is constant, but almost three times larger (K x 0.085). The inflection region is located approximately at hv = 2.2 eV, that coincides with the energy of Rb ground state relative to the lower edge of the conduction band of THF. Mechanism of Charge-Transfer-To-Solvent (CTTS) with a subsequent release of a solvated electron is suggested to be valid below the conduction band of Rb/THF. It implies that kappa = k(s)/(k(s) + k(c)) approximate to 0.03, and consequently, k(c) = 30k(s), where k(c) is the rate constant of the radiationless interconversion, and k, is the rate constants of the isomerization of CTTS excited state with the formation of the solvated electron. When photon energy becomes higher than the energetic gap between the CTTS ground state and the edge of the THF conduction band, photoinduced autoionization transitions into the continuum generate quasi-free electrons.